improve subtitle styles, publish new post!

1 files changed, 141 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/docs/index.xml b/docs/index.xml
index 283d364..9d9a594 100644
--- a/docs/index.xml
+++ b/docs/index.xml
@@ -12,6 +12,147 @@
       <language>en-us</language>
       <copyright>Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0</copyright>
       <item>
+<title>Pixel Art In GIMP</title>
+<description><p>I&#39;ve always been an admirer of pixel art, because of it&#8217;s
+simplicity and it&#39;s resemblance to bitmap font design.
+Recently, I decided to take the dive and make some art of my
+own.</p>
+
+<p>I used GIMP because I am fairly familiar with it. Aseprite
+seems to be the editor of choice for animated pixel art
+though.</p>
+
+<h3 id="Setting%20up%20the%20canvas">Setting up the canvas</h3>
+
+<p>Picking a canvas size is daunting. Too small, and you won&#8217;t
+be able to fit in enough detail to make a legible piece. Too
+big and you&#39;ve got too many pixels to work with!</p>
+
+<p>I would suggest starting out with anywhere between 100x100
+and 200x200. <a href="https://u.peppe.rs/u9.png">Here&#8217;s</a> a sample
+configuration. </p>
+
+<p>Sometimes I use a 10x10 grid, <code>View &#62; Show Grid</code> and <code>Edit &#62;
+Preferences &#62; Default Grid &#62; Spacing</code>, but that can get
+jarring at times, so I throw down a couple of guides, drag
+right or down from the left or top gutters for vertical and
+horizontal guides respectively.</p>
+
+<h3 id="Choosing%20a%20Brush">Choosing a Brush</h3>
+
+<p>The most important part of our setup is the brush. Use the
+Pencil Tool (<code>n</code> on the keyboard) for hard edge drawings.
+Here&#39;s a small comparison if you don&#39;t know the difference
+between a hard edge and a soft edge:</p>
+
+<p><img src="https://u.peppe.rs/kz.png" alt="hard edge vs soft edge" /></p>
+
+<p>I turn the size down all the way to 1 (<code>[</code> on the keyboard).
+Set <code>Dynamics</code> off. <a href="https://u.peppe.rs/Fs.png">Here&#8217;s</a> a
+sample brush configuration.</p>
+
+<h3 id="Laying%20down%20the%20pixels!">Laying down the pixels!</h3>
+
+<p>With the boring stuff out of the way, we can start with our
+piece. I usually follow a three step process:</p>
+
+<ul>
+<li>draw a rough outline</li>
+<li>fill in the shadows</li>
+<li>add highlights</li>
+</ul>
+
+<p>But this process are better explained with an example: an
+onigiri. Let us start off with a 100x100 canvas.</p>
+
+<h4 id="Drawing%20the%20outline">Drawing the outline</h4>
+
+<p>For the most part, our figure will be symmetric. If you are
+on GIMP 2.10+, you can take advantage of the Symmetry
+Painting feature. Go ahead and enable vertical symmetry,
+<code>Window &#62; Dockable Dialogs &#62; Symmetry Painting</code> and
+<code>Symmetry Painting &#62; Symmetry &#62; Mirror &#62; Vertical</code>. Your
+outline might look something like this:</p>
+
+<p><img src="https://u.peppe.rs/mn.png" alt="rice_outline" /></p>
+
+<p>Go ahead and fill it in with the fill tool (<code>Shift + b</code> on
+the keyboard), add in some seaweed as well, preferably on a
+different layer. You can toggle symmetry on and off to save
+yourself some time.</p>
+
+<p><img src="https://u.peppe.rs/xu.png" alt="with_seaweed" /></p>
+
+<h4 id="Shadows">Shadows</h4>
+
+<p>For now, let us focus on the shadows on the object itself,
+we&#39;ll come back to the shadows cast by the object on the
+surface later.</p>
+
+<p>Shadows on any surface always follow the shape of the
+surface. A spherical onigiri would have a circular shadow:</p>
+
+<p><img src="https://u.peppe.rs/FU.png" alt="riceball_shadow" /></p>
+
+<p>A couple of noticeable changes:</p>
+
+<p><strong>Layers</strong>: The layer containing the seaweed has been hidden.<br/>
+<strong>Color</strong>: The color of the shadow is just a slightly
+lighter version of the original object (reduce the Value on
+the HSV scale).<br/>
+<strong>Area</strong>: The shadow does not go all the way (notice the bottom
+edges).  </p>
+
+<p>The shadow does not go all the way because we will be
+filling in that area with another, darker shadow! An image
+might explain better:</p>
+
+<p><img src="https://u.peppe.rs/Br.png" alt="shadow_all" /></p>
+
+<p>To emulate soft lights, reduce the value by 2 to 3 points
+every iteration. Notice how area <code>1</code> is much larger than
+area <code>4</code>. This is because an onigiri resembles an oblate
+spheroid, a sphere that is slightly fatter around the
+middle, and areas <code>1</code> and <code>2</code> catch more light than areas
+<code>3</code> and <code>4</code>.</p>
+
+<p>Do the same with the seaweed. The seaweed, being a smaller,
+flatter object, doesn&#39;t cast much of a shadow, so stop with
+1 or 2 iterations of the gradient:</p>
+
+<p><img src="https://u.peppe.rs/T3.png" alt="shadow_weed" /></p>
+
+<p>We&#39;re getting there!</p>
+
+<h4 id="Highlights">Highlights</h4>
+
+<p>This step handles the details on the strongly illuminated
+portions of the object. Seaweed is a bit glossy, lighten the
+edges to make it seem shiny. The rice is not as shiny, but
+it does form an uneven surface. Add in some shadows to
+promote the idea of rice grains. Here is the finished
+result:</p>
+
+<p><img src="https://u.peppe.rs/VE.png" alt="highlights" /></p>
+
+<h3 id="Finishing%20Touches">Finishing Touches</h3>
+
+<p>Some color correction and <code>a e s t h e t i c</code> Japanese text
+later, our piece is complete!</p>
+
+<p><img src="https://u.peppe.rs/cn.png" alt="small_onigiri" /></p>
+
+<p>Hold on, why is it so tiny? Well, that&#39;s because our canvas
+was 100x100, head over to <code>Image &#62; Scale Image</code>, set
+<code>Quality &#62; Interpolation</code> to <code>None</code> and scale it up to
+700x700, et voilà!</p>
+
+<p><img src="https://u.peppe.rs/CH.png" alt="big_onigiri" /></p></description>
+<link>https://peppe.rs/posts/pixel_art_in_GIMP/</link>
+<pubDate>Thu, 09 Apr 2020 15:56:00 +0000</pubDate>
+<guid>https://peppe.rs/posts/pixel_art_in_GIMP/</guid>
+</item>
+<item>
 <title>Rapid Refactoring With Vim</title>
 <description><p>Last weekend, I was tasked with refactoring the 96 unit
 tests on